OLD VERSION! DONT READ!

/Chapter Fifteen/ The Recovery Mission/

“Good morning girls, I see you found breakfast alright,” Nathaniel said cheerfully, stalking into the stable.

I smiled. “Yes, thank you for that Nathaniel.”

He nodded and grinned. “No problem. When do we leave?” he asked, excitedly.

Mother exhaled, “Why are you so eager to go to my old home child?”

Nathaniel shrugged and blushed a deep red. “I want to see a ritual. Mercy did one and I saw and it was very impressed. This ritual is really big so…”

“Hold on a moment, were you listening on our whole conversation the other day?” I asked.

“No…maybe…I overheard things…” Nathaniel mumbled.

Mother snorted. “Yes you did over hear things whilst your ear was pressed against the wooden walls perhaps?” Nathaniel looked away clearly ashamed and mother and I just laughed. “We’ll leave at around midday. Your father should be working then still, right?”

I nodded. My heart was beating heavily against my chest. If we got caught, and the Daemon still had a hold on father then this could cost our heads. Though, we had to save father and set things back to the way they are meant to be by sneaking in and getting the paper. We had to be careful, father sometimes closed the shop early.

“Okay, I’ll go pack some things for the journey and leave Mercy to wash,” Nathaniel bowed and left.

Mother lazily wandered around the stables amongst the other horses, leaving me to wash alone. The water was warm at first, but by the time I was clean, it was freezing and so was I. Blast the English cold mornings. I dried myself with the towel and put the fresh dress on. It fit me snugly and I was warm but felt very….open. The neckline was far too low for my liking and it hugged my curves too much. I guess the whore fashion is what comprises most of her wardrobe.

Mother came back in as I was tying up the draw strings at the back of the dress. “You look gorgeous.”

I beamed at my mother and began to attack my hair with my hands, trying to comb and flatten the frizzy mass of brown hair. “Mother, you should have told me my hair looked like a birds nest!”

“Well, personally I thought you looked amazing.” Mother chuckled and I rolled my eyes.

“When the Daemon’s are out of the way, I will bring you back to life so you can be human again. Then you can brush my hair like you used to.”

The atmosphere around us seemed to change very quickly. It became, dark and miserable – all the things not should not be at this moment. “Mercy, you can not bring the dead back to life sweetheart,” mother said, glumly.

I turned to her and stared. No…she’s lying….she’s mistaken. She must be mistaken. “No mother, there must be a spell to bring the dead back to life.”

“Mercy, if there were a spell like that then I am sure you or your father would have brought me back to life as soon as I died.”

I felt like I was in a glass room full of air that made me delusional. Air that made me sure of one thing and one thing only; that things would be alright. Now, as mother told me there was no hope of bringing the dead back to life, the room has shattered on top of me, cutting me deep with its sharp, cold shards. The ray of hope that I would bring mother and Alexander back began to grow dimmer and dimmer.

“Mother you said the ritual can banish the daemon and set things right. It was not right for you to die so it must change your fate! It has to!”

“Mercy, who am I to say I was never meant to die? How can anyone know when they are meant to die? I might have been due for dead, an hour, a day or a year later than I did die. If you do that ritual, you cannot have me on your mind like that – the purpose is not to get me back, its to banish the  Daemon that follows our family. To protect your children and the generations to come. Focus on the next line of your family sweetheart. When you’re married and you have your first child, I promise you that you will get the same desire as any other mother. You will want to make sure him or her is happy and safe no matter what. Don’t think of what won’t come out of this ritual, think of what will become.”